In the near future, Allianz SE wants to cooperate on a platform with rivals. Supposedly, this will make the software cheaper and better. Writes Herbert Fromme, of the Süd Deutsche Newspaper.

Allianz SE is Europe’s largest insurer and one of the world’s most significant and powerful financial groups. Allianz SE recently announced that it is giving away the central ‘components’ of its own software. What sounds like an irrational step actually has quite a lot of meaning. As Christof Mascher, the Chief Operating Office at Allianz SE explained, behind this idea is the foundation to create an open platform for the development and operation of insurance software. Platform solutions also play an increasingly important role in other industries. The role model for Allianz SE is the Cloud Foundry, an open software managed by a US foundation that offers software solutions from the cloud.

“We now have the ABS in more than 15 countries, overall we manage 42 million contracts,” stated Christof Mascher. “Over the past few years, we have brought ABS to the latest technological level.” An insurer who wants to use ABS needs only program modules to manage their specific offers and prices. That is the responsibility of the respective society.

In Germany alone, the industry spends more than four billion euros on IT.Insphere will also function as a platform in an open marketplace, similar to the Apple and Google app stores. “Many providers can set their services here,” according to Nolte, the IT head at Allianz SE Germany.

Currently, many develop their own systems, mostly with the help of external service providers. However, standard programs from providers such as Guidewire from the USA or MSG from Germany gain the market share. Both solutions however are expensive. In Germany alone, the industry spends more than four billion euros annually on its own IT, which is two to three percent of sales. “We believe in the platform idea. That also brings us a lot,” according to Nolte.

Of course, Allianz SE will benefit from the license revenue as a result of the country modules that Insphere provides.